166 KEY AND DESCIilPTION 



and among our shade trees, rather than in the wikl woods. 

 (Chebec.) 



Length, 5| ; wing, 2^ (2|-2^) ; tail, 2} ; tarsus, J ; culmen, l^. Chiefly- 

 eastern Nortli America, west to Colorado ; breeding from I'emisylvania to 

 Quebec, and wintering in Central America. 



ORDER II. HUMMINGBIRDS, GOATSUCKERS, 

 AND SWIFTS cMACROCHiRBS) 



An order containing one Large American family, the Hum- 

 mingbirds, and two smaller ones of general distribution, the 

 Goatsuckers and Swifts. 



FAMILY XLX. HUMMINGBIRDS (TROCIlfLID^.) 



A family (400 species) of small, brightly colored, American, 

 swiftly tiying birds, living mainly on the insects and nectar 

 found in flowers, which they obtain while on the wing. Their 

 movements through the air are most swift and insect-like, the 

 wings vibrating so rapidly as to be lost to the eye in a hazy 

 mist. These birds are represented by many species in Mexico 

 and South America, and several species are found west of the 

 Rocky Mountains in the United States, but only one (if south- 

 ern Texas is excluded) is to be found in the great region 

 covered by this book. Nearly all, except some tropical forms, 

 have weak, chippering, or squeaking voices. 



1 . Ruby-throated Hummingbird (428. TrMi ihis c^lxbi'is). — A 

 minute, long-billed, narrow-winged, greenish-colored bird, seen 



hovering suspended 

 over flowers or flitting 

 rapidly from plant to 

 plant. The male has 

 a gorget, of brilliant, 

 metallic, ruby-red; this 

 is wanting in the fe- 

 male. The 7nale has 



Rnby-throated Hummingbird 



a notched tail of narrow feathers, and the female one not 



